Despite emotional pleas from parents, students and staff, the Buellton Union School District board voted to issue pink slips to 75 employees and eliminate seven vacant positions.

Before both votes Wednesday night, Superintendent Adam Bailey, who was hired last summer, attributed the cuts for the 2026-27 school year on “the dissolution of the Santa Ynez Valley Special Education Consortium, district’s needs and the district’s fiscal health.”

In the first item, board members voted 3-0 to cut 58 classified positions ranging from instructional assistants for special education and general education classes to intensive mental health therapists and other slots. 

Board member Elaine Alvarado recused herself from the discussion and vote since her spouse works as an instructional assistant. Colleague Jessie Skidmore was absent. 

Minutes later, the panel voted to lay off 20 certificated full-time-equivalent employees, including special education teachers, counselors, school nurses, a speech pathologist and more along with axing four positions. Brandon Perkins cast the lone vote opposing the motion.

The job cuts, involving both full-time and part-time employees, take effect by June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. 

Buellton board members said they had no choice, emphasizing neighboring districts’ decisions to end the Santa Ynez Valley Special Education Consortium, an action one speaker said created chaos.

The Santa Ynez Valley has seven separate school districts — Ballard, Buellton, College, Los Olivos, Solvang and Vista Del Mar along with Santa Ynez Valley Union High School. 

For approximately two decades, Buellton has administered the special education consortium employing the workers, although many worked at campuses across the valley.

The consortium’s dissolution means each district must hire their own special education staff or contract with the Santa Barbara County Office of Education.

Buellton plans to add three classes with about 12 students each. However, district officials expect expenses for the special education classes and the funding to fall short by $122,000 per classroom. 

“The increasing special education costs coupled with our current deficit spending compel us to reduce spending for both special education and general education programs to ensure our district is financially solvent for this and many years to come,” Bailey said.

Steps already taken to trim costs include eliminating travel expenses and deferring some maintenance projects. 

Without cuts, the district would face a shortfall of $847,000 in the next fiscal year, but the proposed reductions won’t completely close the gap.

As the pink slips go out, some of the consortium’s employees likely will land new jobs with individual districts across the valley, but that remains unclear.

“We didn’t want to be in this situation. We fought hard to provide them all the information they asked for — every effort,” board member Brandon Gnekow said. 

Members of boards for other districts — “people I grew up with” — didn’t believe audit reports or other information provided about the consortium’s fiscal solvency, Gnekow added.

“So we sit here today trying to make one of the hardest decisions that I didn’t want to be on the board to make,” Gnekow said, adding that the stories he heard Wednesday night made an impact on him. 

The board’s action won’t affect just special education staff, with some general education slots in the Buellton also expected to feel the pinch.

“This is difficult. This is not what we want to see happen,” Alvarado said. 

Speakers labeled many of the positions targeted for elimination as essential and necessary.

The plan to axe the counselor slot, now filled by Jennifer Tatum, prompted comments from multiple parents and teachers.  

A staff member said the counselor plays a crucial role in attendance, especially for students balking at going to class, allowing the teacher to continue lessons for the other students. 

One parent said the counselor “makes Oak Valley a school where kids feel safe, heard and valued.”

“In just a small way, she’s made such a big impact,” another parent Pam Andrade said. 

California Teachers Association representative Brian Breslin urged the board to make cuts “as far away from the students as possible.” 

“I don’t see that today,” he said. “You have choices.

“I appreciate what you have to do. I implore you to go back and look at everything again and see if there’s another way.”

As of this month, the Buellton school district with two campuses has 543 students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, down from 555 in August, according to the enrollment report.